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Even from the poster, Fikri Jermadi could tell it’s a cool film made for the awards season, so he decided not to miss this one. ‘The Theory of Everything’ is often somewhat incorrectly described as a film based on the life of Stephen Hawking. In many respects this is true, but it ignores the true […]

“In Malaysia film actors and actresses do not become stars – stars become film actors and actress.” Gordon Gray, Malaysian Cinema and Negotiations with Modernity The above is a quote sourced from a PhD thesis by Gordon Gray, an academician who has become somewhat synonymous with anthropology and cinema, with an especial focus on Malaysian […]

Hola the good people of the universe! Continuing on from last week, Fikri and Wina are still at that same coffee shop, talking about the films and filmmakers nominated at the 87th Academy Awards. They discuss the screenplay, cinematography, acting, directing and best film categories. You can catch the first part here, and the Oscars this coming […]

Fikri Jermadi thinks it would be a good Ida to check this film out. He was not mistaken. From the first frames of this film, I initially thought something was wrong with the projector. It seems like everything is a bit off, with the characters all positioned within very small confines on the silver screen. […]

This film reminds Fikri Jermadi why it’s important to face up to the lies and get at the truth. There is a scene in ‘Tangerines’ where the director, Zaza Urushadze, appeared to go all meta on us. Three men, trying to hide the fact that a shootout took place on their property, pushed a van of the […]

It’s been a long time since Fikri Jermadi watched a film blind…so to speak. From one clichéd adventure to the next: no sooner after I had reviewed ‘The Judge’ than a film came along with such grand sweetness that it’s difficult not to fondle around in the dark for an Equalizer (or three). That was what […]

The reason why Fikri Jermadi watched this film is not because his middle name is Hakim. When ‘Iron Man’ first came out, with Robert Downey Jr in the title role, it became clear soon enough that what we have on our hands is a man who the men wants to be, and who the women […]

Wina Widaningrum came in to appreciate Benedict Cumberbatch, but left wondering more about Alan Turing. Enigma (n): a person, thing, or situation that is mysterious, puzzling, or ambiguous. It started with an enigma, an Enigma machine to be precise, that was built by the Germans to basically scrambled alphabet-coded information. Using a particular setting, this […]

We can’t keep Wina away, so she’s back again in this episode, where we look at the films and filmmakers of the 2015 Academy Awards! Mind you, we have not seen all of the films, so do not expect a predictions show of sorts. Rather, this will be an informal, slightly unguided and somewhat insane […]

Everyone banged on about it, so Fikri Jermadi decided to check in and check out Wes Anderson’s latest flick. In watching ‘The Grand Budapest’ hotel, I am reminded of what I had written previously about his films for this very site about previous Wes Anderson efforts, ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ and ‘Darjeeling Limited’. For the animated […]